steinhardt



(No Model.)

A. M. STEINHARDT.

INDEXED BOOK.

No. 580,234. Patented Apr. 6, 1-897.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR ATTOHIVEYfi,

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPH M. STEINHARDT, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

INDEXED BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 580,234, dated April 6, 1897.

Application filed November 3, 1896. Serial No. 610,981. (No model.)

To (all whom it wtay concern:

Be it known that LADoLPH M. STEINHARDT, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indexed Books; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide an index, index-book, or an indexed book such that any name, locality, or the like sought for and contained in the index itself or in the book to the contents of which the index may serve as a guide can be instantaneously located and found unaided and such that the book or books to which the index relates may be instantly opened to the proper name, locality, or the like sought for.

The index is especially adapted for books in which commercial, legal, chronological, or other records are kept, but its use is not restricted to books of these classes, but it may serve as a guide to any series of books or records in which it is desirable to be able to find any particular name, locality, or event with the least possible loss of time.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a book embodying my invention, part of the front cover being broken away. Fig. 2 shows part of the same book when opened to show two facing pages.

For convenience in description lines parallel to the bound edges of the leaves are callec vertical, and those perpendicular to those edges are called horizontal.

In the drawings, A represents a book hav ing upon the right side, or that side opposite the back of the book, a distinct tab for each character used in opening the book, so arranged that all are in full view when none of the leaves have been turned from the position they occupy when the book is closed. The tabs form a series of vertical files B, extending from top to bottom of the book, and also a series of horizontal ranks G, the corresponding tabs in the several files being at the same distance from the upper edges of the leaves. The leaves are primarily several tabwidths wider than the pages proper of the indexed book, and the first few leaves, constituting what may be called the first section of the book, are cut away along the right margm of the page proper from the lower edges of the leaves to a point a tabs width below their upper edge and in such manner as to leave a rectangular portion projecting to the right at the upper right corner of the page. The succeeding sections are all cut in a simi lar manner, but the projecting portion of each section is made a tabs width wider in a vertical direction than the similar projection of the last preceding section. Whatever the number of tabs in each vertical line or file their width is preferably made such that the last section in the index is not cut, but is exposed for a tabs width from its lower edge F. Each section is divided into subsections, and the first of these in each case has the visible part of its projecting portion cut away at G a tabs width from the margin of the page proper. For the remaining subsections the like visible part is cut away at a point a tabs width farther to the right than the subsection immediately preceding. The Whole space at the right of the page proper is thus divided into rectangular tabs, no two of which are in the same plane, and which in number equal the entire number of subsections and are all fully exposed to view at the same time.

The tabs are all preferably provided with reinforces E upon each face, extending out upon the adjacent portions of the leaf. Upon the tabs of the first file, or upon those next the margin of the page proper, are placed in natural order and in erect position the letters of the alphabet, and upon the tabs of each row or rank are placed the vowels in their natural order. alphabet may be repeated upon each of the files, but this is notindispensable, although it perhaps increases speed and diminishes the fatigue of rapid work. Preferably the proper index-characters are placed upon both faces of each tab, so that, as seen in Fig. 2, the same character appears upon both pages when the book is opened.

The subsections may consist of one leaf or of more than one, but in the latter case each page of the intermediate leaf or leaves is pro- As shown, the letters of the vided with the proper character or is cut away to expose the proper character upon another leaf.

Since in ordinary commercial books the space is ample, the tabs in each vertical line or file may be greater in number than the letters of the alphabet and may be used for extending theindex to greater minuteness. For illustration, Me is shown as interpolated and followed by the vowels as in the case of a single letter.

Other indexes suggest various other extensions that it is quite practicable to use here while retaining the multiple files and rows of always-exposed characters arranged upon the tabs, as set forth.

It is also evident that practically the identical arrangement of index-characters may be obtained by attaching suitable tags to the leaves of a book instead of using the wide leaves and cutting them away in the manner described.

That I claim is 1. A book having always-visible tabs connected to its leaves and, beginning with the upper left-hand tab, arranged at progressively-increasing distances from the plane of the first page of the closed book to form at the right-hand side of the book both vertical files and horizontal ranks of tabs, the tabs of the first file bearing a series of primary indexcharacters, respectively, and the remaining tabs in each rank bearing a series of characters, respectively, adapted to combine with the characters upon the first tabs in the corresponding ranks.

2. A book having at the side opposite its back a vertical file of tabs, extending from top to bottom of the book, at successively-increasing distances from the first page of the closed book and bearing letters of the alphabet in natural order, and further having at the right of each tab in said file a rank of tabs bearing different vowels respectively and connected to leaves between theleaf bearing such tab and the leaf bearing the next succeeding tab in said file.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ADOLPH M. STEINHARDT.

Witnesses:

WM. A. WIGHT, THEODORE H. LORD. 

